Just call me your Mother
by chawk1993
Summary: ONE-SHOT* Six months after returning from Fairytale Land, Emma decides that its finally time to become the mother that Henry has wanted her to be only she has to receive Regina's approval to gain custody of Henry. Will she get the Evil Queen's approval to regain custody of her son?*AU*


A/N: _This my first OUaT fic so please be nice. I have been working on a couple of Once fics and I wanted to put his one up mainly because I feel sorry for Regina in a way. Yes, she might be evil but she still loves Henry and wants to be a better mother to him but so does Emma. I wanted to write fic about the closeness that Emma and Henry have and I thought this would be it. It's AU as it takes place 6 months after Emma and Mary Margaret return from Fairytale Land. This of course won't happen as other things happen. I still have to watch the new episodes after Queen of Hearts as Once has come back on Australian televisions yet. Stupid cooking show! Anyway, I hope you enjoy._

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**Just call me your Mother**

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Life had changed dramatically for Emma since she had arrived in Storybrooke. She had become close friends with Mary Margaret who was actually her mother, Snow White and had become close with Ruby better known as Red Riding Hood and had even befriended the Dwarves and over time she got to know David who was actually her father, Prince Charming.

While her life previously made her somewhat of a nomad, Emma liked the fact that she could finally settle down and get to know her son and her parents. She had come to know Henry really well and found that he was a lot like her. As she focused on a book that Mary Margaret had loaned her, Emma's mind stopped wandering. She was at work, like she should have been weeks ago.

She and Mary Margaret had been sucked back to Fairytale Land where they struggled to get back to David and Henry. Now, six weeks after returning home, the family was able to catch up on all the time they had lost. Henry now called David 'Gramps' much to Mary Margaret's amusement while she got called 'Grandma Snow'. Emma was still Emma but on occasion Henry would call her 'mom', which was fine with her but now, if she really thought about it, she wanted Henry to call her 'mom' all the time. Before she could think about it more, she was knocked out of her thoughts.

"Hey!" said a familiar voice. Emma looked up from her book to find Henry standing in front of her desk.

"Hey, what're you doing here? I thought you were at school."

"I was. Grandma Snow let me out early so I could have lunch with you and Gramps. Is that okay?" Henry looked at his biological mother, hoping that she would say yes.

"Sure, make yourself at home." Emma said as she bookmarked her book and placed it in the drawer she had stored it in. Henry made himself comfortable and pulled out the sandwich that Mary Margaret had made him that morning. After a moment of silence, Emma decided to ask, "So, how does my mom fare in cooking?"

Henry eyed his sandwich. "Making a sandwich isn't really cooking. But she did well. I like Grandma Snow's cooking." Emma smiled and went back to her own sandwich. Mary Margaret had insisted in making her husband, daughter and grandson lunch. David was now serving as Emma's deputy.

"Hey!" Emma and Henry turned around to see David walking into the office with a brown paper bag in his hand.

"Hi." Mother and son chorused as they both took bites of sandwich. David chuckled as he pulled up a chair. His attention turned to Henry.

"Henry, aren't you meant to be at school?" David asked, a smile sliding across his face. He knew Snow had sent him.

"Well yeah, but Grandma said I could be excused to have lunch with you and Emma."

"Don't you mean, 'mom'?" Emma asked, as she chewed.

"Yeah." Henry said uneasily before taking another bite of his sandwich.

"You know, kid, it's perfectly okay, to call Emma, your 'mom'," David told his grandson gently. "I think she would like that." Emma's head snapped in the direction of her father.

"I know but it feels… strange. Getting to call you 'Grandpa' and Mary Margaret 'Grandma' and getting to call Emma 'Mom' has always been my dream but it's still strange to me."

David grinned and leaned across the desk. "I know how you feel. I still can't believe that I'm a grandfather with a daughter almost the same age as me but its something you get use to over time, trust me." Henry felt happier now and returned his grandfather's smile before he finished off his lunch.

"I had better back to class. I don't want the class to think that I've got special privileges," Henry got and up and headed for the door. He turned back to his mother and grandfather when he remembered something. "You're coming to the play tonight, right?"

"Of course, we wouldn't miss it for the world." Emma said with a proud smile. Henry beamed back and left the office. Sighing happily, she turned to her father.

"What?" David beamed.

"I was just thinking." Emma sighed as she pulled the book she had been reading before out of the drawer.

"Of what?"

"Of gaining legal custody of Henry. I want to have the chance to raise Henry as my own son. I know I put him up for closed adoption when he was born but after everything that has happened over the last few months I've realised that Henry was right about Regina, she is evil and only pretended to love him but after seeing how desperate Regina was to stop me from taking Henry away from her, my maternal instincts have really kicked in. Can you understand that?"

David nodded. "Yeah, I can. I remember, when your mother gave birth to you, her first instinct was to put you in that wardrobe. I was reluctant of course, but my own paternal instincts kicked in and all I wanted was for you to be safe from Regina's curse. You are an amazing mother to Henry, Emma. Don't ever doubt that." Emma smiled.

"I don't think mom will ever let me live it down if I did." David smiled at his daughter. She was finally coming out of her shell in calling her mother 'mom'.

"She's proud of what you have become Emma, even if you did have a rough patch to begin with. She certainly did. As did I."

"You? Seriously?" Emma asked in surprise.

"Hmm-mmm. Yeah. I wasn't born a prince. I was born a farmer and I had a twin brother, named James."

"Wait, I thought your name was actually James."

"No, when my brother was killed, King George told me to take up my brother's name so no one would get suspicious. Plus he threatened that if I didn't do as he said, he would have my mother killed."

"Spencer's a creep. He killed Billy." Emma commented harshly.

"I agree with you there. Come on, we have a donut run to complete." Emma scoffed and followed her father out of the office.

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That evening, Emma and David arrived at Henry's school. Henry's class was performing a spoof of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves that Mary Margaret had written in her spare time. She thought it would be fun for her class to perform it to the town just for a laugh as everyone needed a break after the war the town had had with Cora and Hook.

As father and daughter walked down into the school hall, they looked around, looking for Mary Margaret. When they spotted her, they waved; she was quick to wave back. They greeted their friends as they passed them as they made their way down to Mary.

"Hi!" the teacher greeted of her husband and daughter as they kissed her on the cheek.

"Hi." They chorused with a laugh.

"Before you ask, Henry's fine. I just spoke to him and he's excited." Mary Margaret peered over her husband and daughter's shoulders and stared wide-eyed as Regina entered. People hurried to their seats in total fear. Emma turned when she sure that her mother's eyes were elsewhere.

"I invited her. She might be the Evil Queen but she has been Henry's mother for the last 11 years of his life. She can't be left out of his life now." Emma told her parents. While David and Mary exchanged looks that showed their disapproval of their grandson's continued relationship with their arch nemesis, Emma went over to greet the Queen.

"Hi." Emma said as she shoved her hands into the pockets of her dress.

"Hi. Thanks for inviting me." Regina said quietly. She didn't need to turn around to know that everybody in town was watching them.

"No problem. You might be the Evil Queen and my mother's former stepmother but you're still Henry's mother, in a way." Emma told her. Regina smiled a small smile. Emma returned the same smile and went to walk back to her parents who were now talking to Ruby and Granny.

"Emma," Regina called causing the sheriff to stop walking and turn to her. It was a surprise to hear Regina using her actual name. "I just wanted to let you know that Henry likes his mashed potatoes with cheese mixed in."

"Come on. Come and sit with us." Regina smiled thankfully and followed Emma to the front of the room. In the front row, David and Emma sat on the end of the row, while Mr. Gold, Belle, Granny and Ruby occupied the row of seats. Seeing that Regina had had joined them, Granny, Ruby and Belle moved down and Regina took the seat next to Gold who merely ignored her.

The lights dimmed and the curtain opened. "Once Upon a Time in a faraway kingdom lived a King and a Queen…" Mary Margaret read. A boy ran out onto stage with a paper crown on his head.

"Hear me hear me!" the boy yelled. The crowd laughed. The way the boy said the line was what made it funny. After a few scenes, Henry came running out on stage dressed like Charming had the day he had met Snow. David beamed. Mary Margaret caught his eye and she beamed back as she continued to read the story.

Emma leaned over and whispered, "Wow, he is like his grandfather." She and David exchanged looks for a moment before they turned their eyes on the stage as Henry finished his scene with Paige who had been given the role of Snow.

After the scene had finished, the curtains closed and an intermission was called to give people a chance to stretch their legs and get something to eat and drink. Henry charged out from behind the curtain with Mary Margaret struggling to keep up. He was still dressed in his Charming costume. He hugged Emma causing her to jump in shock but she was quick to return his hug.

"You came." The boy said as he hugged his mother tightly.

"You bet we did." David said patting his grandson on the back. The prince looked up to see his wife smiling at him and Emma.

"You would have been very proud of him." Mary Margaret said as she kissed her husband on the cheek.

"We already are." Regina said as she beamed down at Henry who then stepped forward to hug her. Emma grinned. She knew that Regina might have been wicked enough to curse every storybook character into having unhappy endings but she had seen that Regina did have a caring side especially when it came to Henry whom she adored.

"Regina, can I, um, talk to you, privately?" Emma asked shakily.

"Sure." Henry smiled and released Regina before he went with his grandmother over to Red and Granny who congratulated him for a job well done at playing Charming.

"What's going on?" Regina asked once she and Emma were outside the hall.

"I have been doing a lot of thinking and I want to be Henry's mother. I know you are dead set against it because you think that I'm trying to take him away from you but I'm not."

"I understand, Sheriff."

Emma was stunned. "You understand?"

Regina nodded. "Yes, I understand. Henry spends a lot more time with you then he has ever spent with me. You are very special to him and I understand that now. I was wrong to try and keep him away from you. You gave birth to him. You have something that I could never give him." Emma stared at her in horror. "Love. I tried to give Henry the love he needed but everything I tried only pushed him further and further away from me but you have a gift that I never had. I'm afraid that I'm too much like my mother," Regina sighed. "If you want custody of Henry you can have it but as long as I get visitation rights. Oh and if you want to change his name to 'Swan' or 'Charming' you can. I don't mind."

"You know what, I hadn't thought of that. I just thought that if I were to have Henry's name changed how would you feel if I had it changed to 'Mills-Swan'?" Emma watched as Regina's lips turned up into a smile.

"I'd like that." Emma smiled before the two walked back into the hall.

"Mom!" Henry called causing both Regina and Emma to look up. "Wish me luck?"

Emma and Regina looked at each other. "Good luck." They chorused. Henry smiled and went to hug them both.

"Henry, honey." Mary Margaret called from the stage.

"Coming Grandma!" Henry called back as he ran back to the stage. Emma and Regina watched as he disappeared through the curtain and were quick to return to their seats. The lights dimmed and the play resumed.

The play was an instant success judging by the amounts of laughter and applause. Henry got the most applause due to his performance playing his grandfather. When the play had finished and people had started to leave the hall, David, Emma and Regina ran up onto the stage to congratulate Mary and Henry on a job well done. Emma scooped Henry up into her arms and hugged him tightly.

"You did an amazing job, kid."

"Thanks." David ruffled Henry's hair.

"You did a spot on job of playing me." He smiled.

"You really think so?" Henry asked.

David nodded. "I could see the scenes clearly as they replayed in my head."

"Well that's good, Charming." Mary smiled.

Regina didn't know what to say.

"Henry," Henry turned to her. "Emma has something she wants to tell you." Henry and his grandparents turned to Emma. Emma crouched down to her son's level.

"I have been giving it a thought and I want to gain legal custody of you." Henry's eyes went wide in surprise. He turned to his grandparents who beamed at him.

"Really?"

"Really." Emma nodded. Henry smiled and ran to give Emma a hug.

"I love you mom." He murmured.

Joy spread through Emma as if it were a disease. Her arms tightened around Henry. "I love you too, Henry." She whispered.

Mary Margaret, David and Regina watched the exchange with wide smiles. Mary laid her head on her husband's shoulder.

"So what do I call you now?" Henry asked after a moment.

Emma didn't have to think about the answer. "Just call me your Mother."

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_Please Review!_


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